Military and commercial technologies such as electronic systems often include proprietary circuit designs and source codes. This electronic proprietary information needs protection from reverse engineering and tampering. If not protected, sensitive information can fall into the hands of unwanted individuals. If such technology belongs to a commercial entity, the information obtained by a reverse engineer could cause financial losses and undermine the economic security of that entity. The stakes are even higher when the proprietary information belongs to the military. The information obtained by a reverse engineer may endanger national security, or enable enemies to operate advanced weaponry. Furthermore, the military is often unaware of this type of leak, until the information is used against them. Confidence in the integrity of proprietary information is essential. Additionally, if reverse engineers can inspect and understand the technology, they may be able to develop a way to overcome the technology, thus rendering it useless.
Traditional anti-tampering mechanisms place electronic sensors throughout a device to detect when an intruder is attempting to access information from the device. When a tamper event is detected by the sensors, the sensors send a signal notifying the event to a main processor. The main processor reacts to the event to prevent the intruder from obtaining any of the proprietary information or technology. Since these traditional sensors are continually monitoring for a tamper event, they require a continuous flow of electricity. Traditional sensors, therefore, must be connected to a landline power supply, a generator, or a battery. If no power is flowing to the sensors, they will not acknowledge any tamper events.
The dependence of powered sensors upon electricity may render them impractical in certain situations. For example, proprietary technology may have storage requirements for 20 or more years in inaccessible locations. Time spans of this duration are outside of the operational lifetime of a typical battery. Additionally, long time spans that are within the operational lifetime of a battery can be impractical because of the significant weight and volume of battery power required. Thus, constrained by battery size and shelf life, usage of batteries to power sensors requires periodically access to systems for battery replacement and maintenance. Accessing the system is no trivial task. The battery powered component could be assembled as part of a larger system that could incur high labor costs to dismantle for servicing. Also, in some types of enclosures checking the battery could require breaking the protective seals of the system, resulting in the detection of a tamper event. This, in turn, may cause the subsequent activation of the anti-tamper protocol, which may destroy the proprietary information. For these reasons, batteries are not favored in long term storage applications. Another option is to hardwire the system to a generator or a landline power supply. This solution also has drawbacks, mostly related to cost and practicality.